[aarvig]

I am trying to rivet the upper leading edge rivet on the vertical stabilizer and nothing I have in my shop will allow me to get into the very narrow space there. Any recommendations on what to use?

 

[petehowell]

Axe

AA,

Try the blade of an axe..... we have a few at the hangar.

 

[Camillo]

I bought a "pig-foot", the tool thieves use to open doors. And used it on the thin edge. Used it a lot of times, even for those difficult rivets of the panel upper skin to side longerons.

 

[terrye]

Rivet Sqeezer

As previously posted, a rivet squeezer with a 4" no hole yoke works well here. I have a pneumatic squeezer and it is my favorite tool. There are other locations on trailing edges that are even tighter than the vertical stabilizer.

The recommendation of the axe is a solution I have heard of but not tried. You use the axe head as a bucking bar with a rivet gun. Take care to protect the part with cardboard or tape so as not to damage it with the axe. I have made some special bucking bars out of 1"x1" or 1"x1-1/2" cold rolled steel to fit the geometry of these tight areas but found them difficult to use because of the thin section at the foot and the offset due to the cutout. It is difficult to keep the rivet shop head straight. In general, however, don't be afraid to make your own tools as required.

For really tight quarters, one trick I recommend is to pre-squeeze the rivet. Using the squeezer hold the rivet with a rivet gauge (or piece of aluminum with a hole in it) on one of the dies and squeeze it until the shank diameter is just a bit smaller than the hole (vernier calipers help here). Then insert the rivet in the hole and squeeze or buck it.

 

[aarvig]

Thanks for the advice!

I went to the hanger today to pick up an axe that Pete Howell recommended and Peter Fruehling was there. He was kind enough to loan me a 4" no hole yoke that will fit right on my squeezer. I will wrap the vertical up tonight.